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10/29/2018

Papers I’ve Read
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A mutation-led search for novel functional domains in MeCP2. Guy et al. Hum Mol Genet 2018.
Nothing too exciting, seems to confirm C-terminus deletions in MeCP2 don’t result in functional deficiency but more quality-control/protein-stability problems. Authors speculate on a drug helping but I think when you’re missing most of the translation product due to transcription truncation there isn’t much hope for small molecule approaches.

Impaired Mitochondrial Dynamics Underlie Axonal Defects in Hereditary Spastic Paraplegias. Denton et al. Hum Mol Genet 2018.
I don’t know much about this family of diseases, so this was a helpful paper to catch up with.

Football / Poker
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Took the Redskins -1 and the Panthers ML. 2/2 this weekend. Staying away from Patriots -14 although that rises to the level of actionable. It’ll be a game-time decision.

Personal
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End of the year is approaching! 33.5 months until home. Everything is mostly good here. My bestie is leaving for prison camp.

Glossary
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I will be trying to improve this section with sequentially more complete definitions of terms/concepts, hosted on a separate page on my domain. Some of these concepts are very simple but get very complex quickly with more digging.

autophagy – The process of recycling (death) of cellular components.
mitochondria – Cellular organelles that are the main source of ATP. The shape and size of mitochondria are regulated by enzymatic fusion and fission processes. The mitochondria is membrane-enclosed and membrane potential is a measurement of mitochondrial health.
mitophagy – Mitochondrial degradation/autophagy.
negative/purifying selection – The removal of a gene or allele from a species’ gene pool due to disadvantageous properties via natural selection.
Southern Blot – laboratory technique used to detect nucleic acids via hybridization
transcription – The process of transcribing mRNA from a DNA template (gene).
translation – The process of building a protein from a mRNA template.

Hey Martin, hope you’re doing well. No questions this time, just wanna let you know we love you and appreciate you posting weekly. Hang in there buddy and let us know if you want anything from the outside!

Hi Martin, thanks so much for including the glossary this time! I really look forward to it being expanded. If there was a huge glossary or even longer explanations of scientific topics from you it would be like Christmas for me, you have no idea how much I’d appreciate it.

thank you again for going back to your glossery! You do a good job of breaking it down. As a question how do you go about picking which papers you read for clinical trials ? Are there just certain diseases and drugs you focus more on than others?

Martin, that hand is what is simply known as a “cooler.” Phil Ivey would have lost his stack with that runout, too.

One crucial aspect of poker is making sure you put as much money in the pot when your hand is susceptibile to being “drawn out.” On a QJT flop (especially if there are two to a suit) you need to to raise if you’re in position or check/raise if you’re out of position. That way you make the most money against open-enders, top pairs and flush draws. For example, if your opponent had AQ or KQ or any other K he is very likely to pay you off. And if he jams over your raise, if he’s super duper nitty, you can entertain a fold. But raising this flop is simply mandatory.

Don’t be “results oriented” :p. Looking forward to discussing more poker with you upon your release